Monday, October 20, 2008

The Summer's Final Pleasure Cruise

Welcome back to the White Lodge. Let's begin the final Pleasure Cruise of the summer by taking a look at the back yard of the cottage. We don't have a large yard but it is cozy and, when entertaining in the summer, creates a very intimate atmosphere. Especially when you add swarms of mosquitoes.

Anyway. The windows up top are the sleeping porch windows. The bottom windows lead to the back porch (which is used primarily for our summer buffets - helps keep the flies (and dogs!) away from the food).

As you can see, the yard slopes towards the lake. I'm trying to talk S into building a free-standing deck so we've got a bit of a level surface back there. Maybe some day.

The only good picture of the Party Barge that I have is when it is all decked out in it's Tiki-wear for the 4th of July party this summer. On this Pleasure Cruise, we're going with the bare-bones hot green with blue astro-turf carpeting. Welcome aboard!

As you can see, we don't have a lot of lake frontage. So our various toys provide a measure of privacy from other Pleasure Cruisers. (S's sailboat is a Flying Dutchman. I do not like this boat at all and have not set foot on it since last October when we capsized it. S has had to find other crew when he wants to sail. I have guilt over this but I am scared of this [highly unstable to the novice sailor] boat. [I'm the novice, not S.])

In this picture, we're about 50 yards off dock. This is the view to the east.

Captain Russ is looking for fish. As you can see he is quite wet from the two times he FELL IN THE LAKE off docks. Once of ours, once of the neighbor's. He really is a clumsy oaf sometimes. Anyway, towards the right of this picture, you can see the point that protects our little cove from all the water-skiers, jet-skiers, and fishermen in high-speed bass boats.

Here we are just past the point, looking back towards our little cove. The big white house you see is the neighbor's. Our cottage is just to the right of it, hidden from view by the trees.

Here's the point and the view to the west towards the far end of the lake. The lake is 240 acres.

Russ has mutinied and gained control of the boat. Here he is in full Captain mode with his first-mate, Chewie.

Captain Russ on the look-out for fish, swans, iceburgs, and other at-sea dangers.

A couple of the the swans that call our lake home. They're fantastic birds. And mean.

It's very calm today. Since it's mid-October, all the water-skiers are long gone. We only saw one other boat on our Pleasure Cruise today.

I hope you enjoyed your Pleasure Cruise! Please come visit us again soon.

I am Jealous with a capital J!I'd love to have a little cottage...with charm and a cute little sleeping porch. But no, instead we have scorpions and rattlesnakes, cactii and tumbleweeds. It doesn't even come close to comparing.

Do you have a lot that you are planning to sew for Christmas this year?